u/Melodic_Pudding176

Who would think budget cuts at StatCan would affect data quality?

Hi, all. Our mortgage is coming up for renewal and we decided to transfer it from TD to RBC, as they offered us a better deal (3.79% 3-year fixed plus cashback). Our current balance is $425,000, with 20 years still ahead of us.

As many other first-time homebuyers, my partner and I thought a variable rate was a good idea during the pandemic (big mistake) and had to lock in at 5.37% a few months later, which had a major impact on our budget. For this reason, we hadn't really been able to save anything up until very recently.

The initial plan was to simply transfer our mortgage to a new lender, but we are now considering whether to do a refinance to improve cash flow ($20,000). We would use this to pay off some debt ($4,000), make a couple large purchases ($9,000) and invest the rest ($7,000) in our TFSA for any emergencies.

Our broker suggested adding the loan to the mortgage balance (new total: $445,000) with no changes to the original rate or to the amortization period, which would increase our biweekly payments by $38 only. As we don't want to roll this into long-term debt, we would be making extra payments ($200 every couple of weeks) to pay it off as quickly as possible.

This is our first renewal, so I'm not really sure about the pros and cons.

Would appreciate any input before we make a decision. Thanks in advance!